Written Answers Monday 6 April 2009

Scottish Executive

Enterprise

Robert Brown (Glasgow) (LD): To ask the Scottish Executive which business improvement districts have crime prevention as part of their funded strategies.

John Swinney: This information is not held centrally. The projects which individual business improvement district companies take forward are a matter for each company, based on its local knowledge, the decisions of its members and in line with its business plan.

Finance

David Whitton (Strathkelvin and Bearsden) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive what steps it is taking to ensure that all devolved public authorities settle invoices within 10 days of receipt and whether it will publish performance figures for local authorities, individual departments and agencies.

John Swinney: The Scottish Government is committed to supporting business in the current economic situation by paying bills more quickly. The intention is to achieve payment of all undisputed invoices within 10 working days, across all public bodies.

  The target, and the expectation that they will work towards achieving it in as short a timescale as possible, has been communicated to all bodies. Within the Scottish Government work was quickly put in place, and is continuing, to sustain improved payment performance. Public bodies who do not use the Scottish Government’s financial systems are responsible for their own systems and processes and, therefore, for making the necessary changes to ensure that they work towards this target.

  The Scottish Public Finance Manual has also been updated to reflect the introduction of the target and can be found at:

  www.scotland.gov.uk/Topics/Government/Finance/spfm/payments/paymentsannex1.

  As noted in the response to S3W-19759, answered on 29 January 2009, the Scottish Government monitors payment performance on a monthly basis and information is collated by calendar month. The payment performance of the bodies who use the Scottish Government’s systems and processes has doubled since the launch of the initiative; for the month of March 2009 payments for 91.6% of transactions were made within 10 working days.

  The Scottish Government has reported payment performance in response to parliamentary questions and will also report on payment performance in its annual accounts (to be published in September 2009). The Scottish Government does not hold centrally performance information on the bodies who do not use Scottish Government systems and processes. The expectation, however, is that individual bodies can report on their own performance and will do so in their annual accounts.

  All answers to written parliamentary questions are available on the Parliament’s website, the search facility for which can be found at:

  http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/Apps2/Business/PQA/Default.aspx.

Housing

Shirley-Anne Somerville (Lothians) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive what regulations govern the letting of property on a short-term or holiday accommodation basis.

The Executive have supplied the following corrected answer:

Alex Neil: Part 8 of the Antisocial Behaviour etc. (Scotland) Act 2004 covers the mandatory registration of private landlords. This includes short-term accommodation but not houses for holiday use.

  In addition, Part 7 of the Act provides that a local authority can issue an Antisocial Behaviour Notice on the landlord of a relevant house where the tenant or occupant is engaging in antisocial behaviour.

Prison Service

Bill Aitken (Glasgow) (Con): To ask the Scottish Executive how many television channels are available to prisoners in prison and how many of these channels are directly related to educational provision.

Kenny MacAskill: I have asked Mike Ewart, Chief Executive of the Scottish Prison Service, to respond. His response is as follows:

  Prisoners have in-cell access to 20 freeview television channels none of which are directly related to educational provision.

Scottish Government Finance

David Stewart (Highlands and Islands) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive how many assets it disposed of in (a) 2007 and (b) 2008 and has disposed of in 2009, broken down by local authority area, and what the value is of these disposals.

John Swinney: Information covering asset disposals is published in the Scottish Government’s Consolidated Accounts and is available on the Scottish Government’s website; www.scotland.gov.uk These accounts covering 2006-07 are published at:

  http://www.scotland.gov.uk/Publications/2007/10/30102402/0 and 2007-08 are published at:

  http://www.scotland.gov.uk/Publications/2008/09/29130020/0. The accounts in respect of 2008-09 will be published in due course. This information is not held by individual local authority area.